The tool with 80% market share ranked 6th. A free option ranked 3rd. And the platform we'd actually pick? It's not the one with the biggest ad budget.
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Between the best and worst tool: a 4.2-point inbox placement difference. On a 10k list, that's 420 lost subscribers per send.
Beat the household-name brands on 3 of our 4 scoring axes. Free up to 10k subs. We were as surprised as you'll be.
It's the one your podcast host recommends. The one with the Super Bowl ad. Here's the data on why it's not the right pick in 2026.
100-point composite: 40% deliverability · 25% automation · 20% pricing · 15% support.
| Rank | Category | Tool | Score | What we found |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Editor's Pick | ████████████ | █.█/10 | The tool we'd choose if we were starting over today |
| #2 | Runner-up | ████████████ | █.█/10 | 98%+ inbox placement, half the price of #1 |
| #3 | Best free tier | ████████████ | █.█/10 | Free up to 10k subscribers — a category killer |
| #4 | Best for automation | ████████████ | █.█/10 | If you live inside flows, this is the one |
| #5 | Best for writers | ████████████ | █.█/10 | Surprisingly low score on the metric that matters most |
| #6 | Skip — over-hyped | ████████████ | █.█/10 | Has 80% market share. Ranks 6th. Here's why. |
| #7 | Avoid | ████████████ | █.█/10 | 94.2% deliverability — losing 6% of your list every send |
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